mildred_of_midgard: (0)
mildred_of_midgard ([personal profile] mildred_of_midgard) wrote in [personal profile] cahn 2020-02-02 11:13 pm (UTC)

Re: Peter Keith

Aha! I had wondered where this description of Peter had come from: "medium height, straight, thin, brown, a little pallid, and squint-eyed."

Well, Lavisse just told me it was from FW's attempt to get Peter arrested in London! And he linked me to Preuss, whom we conveniently already had in the library (see, I knew he was going to be useful for primary sources!), and sure enough, the sourcebook to volume 2, page 157, FW writes to his staatsminister in London, September 19, 1730: "Von Natur ist derselbe mittelmäßig, doch schmal und mager; etwas blaß von Gesichte, hat hellbraune Haare und schielet stark." [ETA: Koser, contra Preuss, says that should read "Von Statur", not "Von Natur".]

I don't care if Lavisse has inadequate sympathy for teenage abuse victim Fritz, he's <3 about primary sources! [Besides, he has much more than Mitford.]

Also, yay for the ability to edit Rheinsberg posts. ;)

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